Young S. Koreans getting fat on fast food: survey

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A lifestyle increasingly centered on Western-style fast food and computer games is making young South Koreans fatter, with a new survey showing the youth obesity rate has almost quadrupled in less than a decade.

While just over 8 percent of South Koreans ages 20 to 29 were classified as obese in 1992, that figure rose to 32.3 percent in 2000 as younger people embraced an Internet boom and added more burgers and pizza to a traditionally healthy national diet.

The survey released on Monday by the National Health Insurance Corporation and the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity showed that an older generation is getting fatter too.

The obesity rate for South Koreans ages 30 to 39 nearly doubled in the same period from 18.8 percent to 35.1 percent.

“It is tough to get any exercise when you are plopped down in a chair with your eyes glued to a TV screen as you play video games,” said Oh Sang-woo, a professor at Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital, who helped conduct the study.

Oh said the diet of young South Koreans had changed over the years, with an increasing percentage and amount of their calorie intake now coming from fatty foods.

The survey was conducted by measuring body mass index, an internationally accepted height-to-weight measurement. 

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